The Grade 2 Rebel Stakes, a race for 3-year-olds run at a distance of 1 1/16 miles (8.5 furlongs) on the Oaklawn Park dirt main track, is the third leg of the Oaklawn’s four-race Kentucky Derby prep series, preceding the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.
The Grade 2 Rebel Stakes, a race for 3-year-olds run at a distance of 1 1/16 miles (8.5 furlongs) on the Oaklawn Park dirt main track, is the third leg of the Oaklawn’s four-race Kentucky Derby prep series, preceding the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.
In 2004, the Rebel was won by the popular Smarty Jones, who then went on to win the Arkansas Derby, Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. He finished second in the Belmont Stakes in his Triple Crown bid. In 2015 the Rebel was won by American Pharoah, the 2014 champion 2-year-old who went on to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes to become the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.